A few weeks ago, The Observer spent a hell of a long time in Mars Bar, the storied punk-themed dive on Second Avenue, expecting it to close any day. Then, we got word of a grace period that could last up to six weeks. They wouldn’t go out without a fight. Old habits die Read More
Today, Academy Awards co-host James Franco broke his silence on one of the most sought-after pieces of information this Oscar season, a bit of gossip that eludes the ears of even the most well-connected of industry vets: where’s the after party going to be?
Now we have a lead. People has some Franco-given Read More
Max Fish was not supposed to make it into February. The much-loved Lower East Side bar — known for its patronage by everyone from Johnny Depp and Courtney Love to the downtown crowd of junkies, artists and junky-artists — lost a battle with skyrocketing rent and announced that it would vacate the space on Ludlow Read More
There is a long and honorable tradition of eateries and watering holes where artists can settle their checks with their work. And there is about to be another. Francesca Gavin, art curator for the London-based Soho House brand of private clubs, is heading here to amass a collection for the New York branch, bar tabs Read More
Since December, walking out of Max Fish — the classic Lower East Side haunt that’s kept artists, rock stars, and downtown lushes wasted since the nineties — meant possibly never walking back in again. Word got out that the property taxes and sky-high Ludlow Street rents were forcing Max Fish out of its location. Read More
Late Singer-Songwriter Elliott Smith walked into Max Fish for the first time in May 1997. The bar then was about eight years old, and it had already begun to foster a relationship with the artists and musicians of the Lower East Side — Max Fish is on Ludlow Street, right above Stanton, and perennially flanked Read More
Mars Bar is a loud, dirty, graffitti-washed crumbling cement block of a spot where denizens guzzle whiskey, packed in like sardines.
It’s also is a bit of a sore thumb on Second Avenue. Mars Bar is garish and gross; it’s on an street that’s so clean you could have a blanket-less picnic with your tofu Read More
So it’s come to this: With all appropriate options exhausted, Brooklyn bar owners are choosing to keep their saloons nameless instead of risking having a name that’s just not cool enough. Well, at least one is. The New York Post gallantly explores this Greenpoint boite sans nom, which was thrust upon the world Read More
Despite widespread outrage over hospitalized college kids, state laws barring certain open bars and a harsh dismissal from Frank Bruni, Eddie Huang actually had a Four Loko event at his restaurant Xiao Ye. It happened last night, and for the first time Four Loko was sold at a bar in New York. Read More
Though it may appear otherwise, Four Loko wasn’t history’s first beverage that buzz-seeking booze-lovers turned to for a two-faced rush of alcohol and caffeine, combined. Hot on the the heels of his review of the controversial drink, Frank Bruni at The New York Times wrote today about visiting bars specializing in coffee cocktails, where the Read More
